Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A Simple Moment: the Rhythm of Nature

I reach into the pocket of my robe and pull out four eggs - one brown, one white and two a wonderful blue/green color. They are smooth and warm to my touch.  I lay a soft cloth on the counter, turn on the tap, and run the eggs under water; gently rubbing away any traces of straw and dust. I pull the egg carton out of the refrigerator and complete the dozen. I marvel, not for the first time, at how quickly the hens fill these cartons. The girls are good layers, producing 5-6 eggs a day. Clara's egg business is thriving. She sells monthly subscriptions - $25 for a dozen eggs delivered once a week for four weeks; $15 for a half-dozen. She's fully subscribed, selling two full dozens and two half-dozens to people around town. Before we started to keep chickens, I had no idea how peaceful I would feel as I walked out into the yard, breathing the cool fresh air; no idea how happy it would make me to walk out into the coop, peer into the laying boxes and pull out eggs; or how complete I would feel, bearng witness to the rhythm of nature.
**********************************
This simple moment in time has been captured in response to Alexa's wonderful meme. Alexa, following her own rhythm, is gently letting the meme go. I will miss the meme and deeply appreciate her work in hosting it for the last two years. Thank you Alexa!

16 comments:

Missus Wookie said...

Beautiful eggs and a lovely moment, thanks for sharing.

alexa said...

This is such a beautiful delicately toned photo, Rinda ... I am delighted to hear the egg business is doing so well, and it's lovely to read how much the chickens and hens have brought into your life so unexpectedly. Your writing has taken me straight back to when I was little, on my farm my Mum was brought up on, when I used to collect the eggs with her. We weren't allowed to wash them in those days because the Egg Marketing Board said it made the shells porous and allowed bacteria in (and the farm's surplus eggs were sold on to them) so each one had to be lightly cleaned with a piece of fine grade sandpaper wrapped round a wooden block instead ... Thank-you so much both for bringing back those memories for me, and for all your wonderful contributions over the last two years to Simply A Moment - I was so pleased to see you today in the Linky :).

Jane said...

I love collecting eggs, something I will be doing next week while my daughter is away x

Beverly said...

Kudos to Clara on the success of her egg business and what a wonderful bonus that it brings the peaceful rhythm of nature.

Karen said...

Brings me back to my childhood when I helped my grandfather collect eggs every morning. He raised chickens for many years.

scrappyjacky said...

How lovely that an unexpected bonus of Clara's hen keeping is that it is making you happy as well.
Thank you so much for the lovely card that arrived today.

Melissa said...

A lovely moment to capture! How awesome that Clara is developing her small business skills, too!

Cheri said...

Beautiful photo. Beautiful writing. I feel transported. Wish the eggs I bought looked so pretty!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I just love this piece today, Rinda. And I'm really happy to know that Clara's egg business is booming!

For a while I was getting eggs from our local farmer's market and they were unwashed. The person selling them said that as long as they are unwashed they should not be refrigerated - so they would stay out on our countertop for several days until they were used up. It felt weird to not refrigerate them but they stayed nice and fresh. Something about washing them takes off a protective coating and then they must be refrigerated... ?

nancy y said...

They are so pretty! One of our employees has chickens, so far we've gotten various shades of brown with and without speckles. No blue/green one though.

I bet it's peaceful checking on the chickens!

Kokopelli said...

I have a coworker who has hens that lay blue eggs. And here the egg cartons only hold ten eggs, not a dozen. Funny!

Sian said...

I love the idea of the egg business. I'd be happy to buy..though cracking those beautiful shells might be hard. They are the prettiest eggs I've ever seen

Becky said...

I know exactly what you mean - I love walking in with our chickens and collecting the eggs. A lovely moment to record and well done to Clara for getting her egg business up and running.

Alison said...

So glad the egg business is going so well for Clara...and that you are enjoying having the chickens too..I remember coming with you to look at them!
Alison xx

Miriam said...

What a wonderfully soothing moment Rinda, and one I would so like to know about, collecting eggs from the hens, the rhythm of nature. Congrats to Clara on the egg delivery business.

Anonymous said...

It's so nice to hear that Clara's egg business is doing well and the added bonus of how they make you feel. BTW, love the shades of the shells.